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Volume 18 Issue 3 - November 2012

  • Text
  • November
  • Toronto
  • December
  • Jazz
  • Arts
  • Theatre
  • Symphony
  • Orchestra
  • Choir
  • Concerts

irrepressible joy in

irrepressible joy in making music.I asked Oundjian about the difference inpreparing for a solo recital versus a concerto.He offered that while they are “very differentactivities in many ways,” in the end, “youhave the violin, the technique, the ability toinspire.” He then mentioned reading a novelabout performing wherein the author “wrotesomething like, ‘a good artist expresses feelings;a great artist evokes feelings in others.’”And so it will be when the great ItzhakPerlman steps on stage November 18. André Laplante, violinst Jonathan CrowConcert. P.C. Ho Theatre, 5183 Sheppard St.E., Scarborough.!!November 10 8:00: NYCO SymphonyOrchestra. Season Premiere. Centre forthe Arts, St. Michael’s College School, 1515Bathurst St. 7:30: Pre-concert chat.!!November 17 8:00: York SymphonyOrchestra. Mozart’s Vienna: City of Musicand Dreams. Trinity Anglican Church,79 Victoria St., Aurora. Also Nov 18(Richmond Hill).!!November 18 3:00: Georgian BayIn addition to Perlman’s highly anticipated and cellist Shauna Rolston performSymphony. Two Clarinets and Some Strings.recital and the other concerts I’ve noted, Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto with theMeaford Hall, 12 Nelson St. E., Meaford.TSO conducted by Peter Oundjian.there are dozens and dozens more to explore!!November 21 8:00: Kitchener-Waterlooand discover in the listings. So, let’s all do our part to ensure thefuture of live, classical music performance, whether by a symphony,a soloist, or something in between. You know what to do: Choose.Spend. Enjoy!Symphony Orchestra. Haydn’s Wife? First United Church, 16 WilliamSt. W., Waterloo. Also Nov 23 (Guelph), Nov 24 (Cambridge).!!November 24 8:00: Mississauga Symphony. An die Musik. LivingArts Centre, 4141 Living Arts Dr., Mississauga.!!November 30 8:00: Ontario Philharmonic/Mooredale Concerts.ORCHESTRAL QUICK PICKS!!November 04 2:30: Orchestra Kingston. In Concert. Salvation ArmyCitadel, 816 Centennial Dr., Kingston.!!November 04 3:00: Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. InConcert. Centre for the Arts, St. Michael’s College School, 1515Bathurst St.!!November 10 8:00: Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra. InMajestic Brahms. Regent Theatre, 50 King St. E, Oshawa. Also Dec 4(Toronto).!!December 01 7:00: Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra. FestiveMusic from Around the World. Salvation Army Scarborough Citadel,2021 Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough. 7:15: Pre-concert chat.!!December 01 8:00: Counterpoint Community Orchestra. InConcert. Saint Luke’s United Church, 353 Sherbourne St.!!December 07 8:00: Etobicoke Philharmonic Orchestra. WinterWonderland. Seasonal and classical favourites. Humber Valley UnitedChurch, 76 Anglesey Blvd., Etobicoke. 7:00: Silent auction.Associates of theToron to SymphonyOrchestra2013 SeasonSubscribe to the Five Small Concert Series ~an ideal gift for your family, friends and yourself!Monday, January 21, 2013, 7:30 p.m.Arnold Schoenberg Transfigured Night, Op. 4Johannes Brahms String Sextet no 2 in G major Op.36Monday, February 25, 2013, 7:30 p.m.W. A. Mozart Flute Quartet No.1 in D major K285Benjamin Britten Phantasy Quartet in F for oboe andstring trio, Op.2Giacomo Puccini Crisantemi elegy for String QuartetGustav Holst Fugal Concerto for flute, oboe and strings,op 40, No.2, H.152Alexander Borodin String Quartet No.2 in D majorMonday, March 4, 2013, 7:30 p.m.Ensembles from the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestrawill present a varied program.Monday, April 22, 2013, 7:30 p.m.Franz Berwald Septet in B flat majorLudwig van Beethoven Septet in E flat major for Strings andWind Op. 20Monday, May 13, 2013, 7:30 p.m.W. A. Mozart String Quartet No.17 in B flat major“The Hunt” K.458Johannes Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor Op.115Five Small Concert Series: / ; single tickets / All Concerts at Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. W.Box Office 416-282-6636 www.associates-tso.orgSharna Searle trained as a musician and lawyer, practised alot more piano than law and is listings editor at The WholeNote.She can be contacted at classicalbeyond@thewholenote.com.PETER SCHAAF16 thewholenote.com November 1 – December 7, 2012

Beat by Beat | In With the NewLearningListeningDAVID PERLMANOf all the concerts I didn’t get out to last month theone I regret most missing was Continuum ContemporaryMusic’s October 22 program at the Music Gallery titled“Finding Voice.”“Communication, as well as the historical lens, is at thecore of a concert that presents two linked theatricalworks by Dutch composer Martijn Voorvelt” read thealways entertaining Continuum blurb. “[It is] basedon the tangled up story of Sir Morell MacKenzie,inventor of the tracheotomy, and his treatment of themute and dying German Emperor Friedrich III.”Because Voorvelt is a self-taught composer, drawingat will on literature and theatre, I was lookingforward to an evening of music that dipsy-doodlesacross the line between genres, using sound in waysthat are more instinctual than intellectual. It was a qualitythat smacked me right between the eyes last year duringVingko Globokar’s visit last season, and I was looking forward toexploring it further: the connections between the innate musicality ofvoice and the inherent storytelling capacity of music.Training the ear to listen to new music by invoking the nuances ofspoken work — cadence, intonation, pitch, pace — seemed like a finetopic for a rainy day, and may well still be. But I will have to proceedwithout my prime example, and I’m sorry for it.That being said, there’s no shortage of material this month for anexploration of the topic. For one thing, I could revisit our cover story’sManiac Star/Royal Conservatory November 25 co-production of BrianCurrent’s Airline Icarus. (Current’s final comment on the challengeof educating the new music audience’s ear is certainly a propos). Butlet’s look for some other examples.Nine days earlier, on November 16 and 17, in the selfsame venue, forexample, the Royal Conservatory Opera School presents a double billof Ned Rorem’s Three Sisters Who Are Not Sisters and Joseph Vézina’sLe Lauréat. In Rorem’s work, in particular, drama and music seemalways shyly (or should that be slyly?) fascinated bedfellows, withoutever quite figuring out what the attraction is. Three Sisters takes forits libretto a Gertrude Stein play of the same name and it makesfor an interesting match. Bernard Holland, in The NewYork Times, Oct 1, 1994, writes about the Stein/Roremwork, and makes the following interesting observation:“Stein’s little game of mock murder makes senseof a sort, but making sense is not its business. It is thearrangement of her simple declarative sentences thatpleases. Mr. Rorem’s terse music and its skillful, imitativeensembles ... successfully explain a literary artin which form is everything and matter matters little.Every musical gesture Ned Rorem has ever made hassomething of the human voice behind it.”“Musical gesture with the human voice behind it” isSir MorellMacKenzie.a good description of the thing I am tryingto describe, and it can be found acrossthe musical spectrum. An example: aNovember 8 noonhour recital at University of Guelph College ofArts titled “Problems with Love.” It features a consummate musicalraconteur, mezzo-soprano Patricia Green, wrapping her innate storytellingskills around “songs by Canadian composers, touching onNovember 1 – December 7, 2012 thewholenote.com 17

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